Campaign Story

Helix wearable hides your Bluetooth earbuds in a tiny strip of wrist bling

Recent months have seen a huge spike in wearable tracker devices, but a new wearable wants to do something a lot simpler: hold one of your other gadgets. Some of the company’s promotional images show users wearing the Helix on one wrist and an Apple Watch on the other, images that lean toward wrist gadget overkill. However, Angela Pan, the CEO of Ashley Chloe, the digital accessories company behind the Helix, doesn’t think the new wearable will contribute to device overload. “Helix is not a device, it’s an accessory. It’s based on the concept of fashion and functionality,” Pan told Mashable. “These are the first stereo Bluetooth headphones that you can wear on your wrist. It’s a fashion statement not, just headphones.” Pan’s fashion statement description isn’t just talk. One version of the Helix comes with 18k gold plated accents ($269 for early buyers), while the other, lower-priced options come accented with silver and champagne gold aluminum ($99).   The battery life for the Bluetooth earbuds is about three hours (200 hours standby time, according to Ashley Chloe), and Pan says the storage case portion is made of the same fluoroelastomer material as the Apple Watch Sport band.   Speaking of sport, it seems like such a clever device might be better targeted at fitness users looking for an easy earbud solution, but the first iteration of the Helix is focused solely on fashion.   “Future generations [of the Helix] will be focused sports,” says Pan. “We want to start with fashion because we feel there’s a gap in that market for the Bluetooth headphone market.” With the Apple Watch, the Pebble and a myriad of other wrist device fighting for your arm, you may think your wrist real estate is already under too much pressure. However, the Helix offers a simple, surprisingly, style-conscious alternative for the neverending stuggle to find a convenient place to store your earbuds and avoid losing them.